Tottenham leisure centre may not fully reopen until 'end of this year'

Tottenham Green Pools and Fitness has already been closed for more than six months, reports Simon Allin, Local Democracy Reporter

Residents may have to wait until the end of the year for Tottenham’s public swimming pools to reopen, a council officer has admitted.

Tottenham Green Pools and Fitness has been out of action since the end of December after the centre’s plant room was flooded by sewage, knocking out the electrical systems.

The council is now reviewing the borough’s leisure provision amid an ongoing failure to fix the issues at Tottenham Green, as well as problems affecting other centres in the borough, with an update being presented to the authority’s overview and scrutiny committee on Monday (24th).

Along with leisure facilities in Crouch End and Broadwater Farm, Tottenham Green Pools and Fitness is owned by Haringey Council and run by charity Fusion under a 20-year deal agreed in 2012. New River Sport and Fitness, in White Hart Lane, was previously run by Fusion but was brought back under the council’s control in 2021.

Zoe Robertson, the council’s head of place, told Monday’s meeting that it could be “later this year or the end of this year” before Tottenham Green reopens.

She said the council was still tendering for works to fix the high-voltage electrical systems in the plant room. These works were likely to last “several months” and would be followed by testing of equipment, she explained.

Despite efforts to stop the flooding, fresh water is continuing to leak into the plant room. Zoe said the council was working with Thames Water to identify the source of the leak.

Responding to councillors’ concerns over the impact of the closure on residents, including the potential to worsen health inequalities in the borough, Zoe acknowledged that the timeframe for reopening was “not satisfactory” and stressed that the council was working “as earnestly as we can” to carry out the works.

Under further questioning from councillors about what options were on the table as part of the leisure review, she said the authority could look to use an alternative provider, insource the service, or continue with Fusion “under a different regime”.

The borough’s only other publicly-owned swimming pools are at Park Road Pools and Fitness in Crouch End. Residents have been allowed to use Fusion-run facilities in Enfield, but Zoe said the council did not have any agreements in place to allow them to use alternative pools in Islington and Hackney because they are run by different providers.

Members of the committee recommended that the council look into what agreement could be put in place to make use of pools in other boroughs. After they were unable to obtain answers on various aspects of the review because of commercial sensitivity, they also called for more democratic oversight of the way leisure services are provided.

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